The Best Full-Body Home Workout Routine for Women or Men

Looking to get strong, break a sweat, and boost your energy—without ever stepping into a gym? Whether you’re just starting your fitness journey or looking to upgrade your at-home training, this full-body workout routine is designed to challenge and tone your entire body using just your bodyweight and minimal space.

Perfect for both women and men, this workout targets all the major muscle groups—legs, glutes, arms, core, and back—through a series of functional, high-intensity movements. It’s balanced, scalable for different fitness levels, and requires no equipment—making it ideal for small apartments, hotel rooms, or living room floors.

You’ll move through dynamic bodyweight exercises like bear crawl slide outs to activate your shoulders and core, donkey kick burpees for explosive cardio, and commandos to challenge stability and build upper body strength. Add in sumo squats to fire up your legs and glutes, and plank holds to round out your core work.

This total-body routine starts with a short, effective warmup to prepare your muscles and prevent injury. Whether you’ve got 20 minutes before work or want to squeeze in a no-fuss sweat session at home, this is your go-to guide to feel strong, capable, and fully worked head-to-toe.

Quick Full-Body Workout Routine

For this workout, you’ll do one minute of work, and then take a 15 second break. You’ll repeat these exercises twice, so even if you don’t do it perfectly the first time, you can get it the second time! Try to do as many repetitions of each exercise as you can during the minute. Good luck!

#1: Warmup Exercise

Goal: Elevate heart rate, loosen joints, and activate muscles before diving into intense moves.

Start with one minute of high knees: bring your knee up so it’s directly in front of your hip, and jump and switch to the other foot, driving the other knee straight up to hip height. Go as fast as you can as you do this.

Have knee issues that prevent you from jumping? March in place for a minute, swinging your arms to help get your heart rate higher.

A good warmup prevents injury and improves performance. Even 3 minutes of movement can help your body switch from sedentary mode to workout mode—especially if you’ve been sitting at a desk or just rolled out of bed.

#2: Bear Crawl Slide Outs

Come down to your plank position: Hands are directly under your shoulders, abs are drawn up and in, and legs are straight. Walk your legs in, bending at the knee, until your kneecaps are pointing straight down to the ground with a 90 degree bend in the knee.

From here, put a towel underneath your feet, and push straight back behind you until you’re back in your straight legged plank. Then, slowly draw your knees back to your starting position. Do this for one full minute, repeating 15 times, taking a 5 second break, and continuing until a minute has passed. After one minute, take a 15 second breather.

This move engages your core, shoulders, glutes, and legs all at once. It’s low-impact but incredibly effective for building stability and full-body coordination—ideal for tight spaces and short workouts.

#3: Donkey Kick Burpee

This one’s tough, but it tones your abs and gets your heart rate up! Start in a standing position, and drop down to a low squat with hands on the ground in front of you. Rock your weight forward and jump, lifting your tailbone up towards the sky and bringing your heels toward your butt. Land back in your squat, and jump up reaching toward the sky. Do as many reps as you can for one full minute! After one minute, take a 15 second rest.

Donkey kick burpees are a full-body blast without the need for weights. You’ll build explosive power in your legs and burn serious calories in a short amount of time—great for metabolism-boosting workouts at home.

#4: Commandos

Tone your arms and abs with this move. Start in a plank position on your hands. Transition down to your right forearm, then your left forearm, and then press back up to plank with your right hand and then your left hand. Alternate starting with the right hand and then starting with the left hand. Do as many as you can for one minute, then take a 15 second breather.

Commandos work your arms, chest, shoulders, and core while improving coordination and endurance. They’re challenging, but effective—especially for building upper body strength without dumbbells.

#5: Sumo Squats

Start in a wide stance with toes turned out to a 30 degree angle. Bend deeply at the knee and hip, pulling abs in, until you get to the bottom of your squat. Then use your inner thighs to stand up tall. Repeat as many reps as possible for one full minute, then take a 15 second break.

Sumo squats target the inner thighs, glutes, and quads while also improving hip mobility. They’re a great lower-body move that doesn’t strain your knees like some other squat variations might.

Repeat exercises 2-5, and then move on to your final move for your last minute of work.

#6: Plank Hold

You’re almost done! Last move is to finish with a plank—hold this for 30 seconds, take a 10 second break, and finish strong, holding a plank for 20 seconds. That’s it!

Planks are a staple core move that also engage your shoulders, glutes, and even your posture muscles. They’re easy to do anywhere and are perfect for building foundational strength and stability.

The Best Workout Routines Include Healthy Eating Habits

What makes this routine so powerful is its simplicity: each movement activates multiple muscle groups at once, boosts your heart rate, and builds functional strength. You don’t need fancy equipment or a gym membership—just your body, a little space, and a willingness to move. These exercises are also easy to modify based on your fitness level, so you can scale up or down as needed. And while consistent workouts are key, pairing them with healthy eating habits—like high-protein meals, low-sugar snacks, and fiber-rich pantry staples—will help you recover faster, feel stronger, and see results faster.

Photo credit: Alicia Cho